Books

The Canterville Ghost 

Pragmatic American family moves into an old European house and haunts the ghost living there.

It’s almost a perfect bookend to The Turn of the Screw:

- Funny instead of scary 
- Ghost is the victim instead of the family 
- Written by a European about Americans instead of vice versa
- Ghost is a flamboyant gothic blood and chains type instead of the naturalistic type 
- Wraps up neatly with a bow instead of leaving the reader uncertain 

Oscar Wilde is reliably funny, and this book delivers on that Front. It presents a stereotype of Americans that’s mostly outdated, but even still it holds up. And as a parody of ghost stories, it’s as relevant as ever. 

It’s fun and quick. Put it on your list for next October.

The Caine Mutiny

Civilian becomes a captain of a minesweeper over the course of WWII. 

“The Navy is a master plan designed by geniuses for execution by idiots.”

The pain of coming to grips with this reality lies at the core of this book. The passably smart, reasonably independently thinking protagonist struggles with the dilemma, sometimes discarding his own rational reactions to formalistic bureaucratic nonsense and sometimes recoiling so strongly that he can’t help but reject the system level demands imposed by the distant geniuses. 

The court martial concerning the mutiny mentioned in the title is usually referred to as the dramatic climax, but the post mortem delivered by the conflicted defense attorney afterwards was, for me, by far the best scene. 

Other than one slow section near the middle, the whole book is outstanding. It feels grown up and sophisticated without being daunting or fatiguing.

Highly recommended. Lots of fun and full of insights applicable to any bureaucracy.

man! 

i've missed your mini book reviews. 😂